Showing titles in Performing Arts

From 2011 up until his death at the end of 2016, the inimitable AA Gill reigned supreme as Uncle Dysfunctional, Esquire's resident advice columnist. In this raffish, hilarious, scathing yet often surprisingly humane collection, Gill applies his unmatched wit to the largest and smallest issues of our time. Whether you're struggling to satisfy your other half, having a crisis over your baldness, don't like your daughter's boyfriend or need the definitive rules on shorts, leather jackets and man-bags, AA Gill has all the answers - but you'd better brace yourself first.

Jo Brand tells the story of how she crawled to fame and fortune, managed to persuade someone to marry her and had some children at an age when she should have been in a bath chair on a seafront. In this second volume of her memoirs, Jo recounts wild times on the comedy circuit, the attempts to tart her up for the TV screen, running the marathon, rally driving, her numerous, occasionally extremely inebriated, Edinburgh festival appearances, her 'acting' career and much, much more.

In this book, Richard Ayoade - actor, writer, director, and amateur dentist - reflects on his cinematic legacy as only he can: in conversation with himself. Over 10 brilliantly insightful and often erotic interviews, Ayoade examines Ayoade fully and without mercy, leading a breathless investigation into this once-in-a-generation visionary. They have called their book Ayoade on Ayoade: A Cinematic Odyssey. Take the journey, and your life will never be the same again.

The legend of comedy returns in 2014 with his biggest and funniest show yet. Monsters is the frightening funny audiobook from one of the biggest names in British comedy filmed during his ambitious 2014 tour. Lee's manic energy, uncanny observations, hilarious delivery, and side-splitting material have made his live performances a must-see for comedy fans worldwide and Monsters sees Lee back doing what he does best, proving once again why he is a record-breaking comic and one of the nation's best!

Simon Mayo hosts a comedic battle between three teams to find out which is the funniest generation. Will the Up and Comers, the Current Crop or the Old Guard be crowned as the Golden Age of Comedy?

Norman Wisdom's early years could easily have come straight from the pages of a Dickens novel. Left by their frightened mother and ill-treated by a brutal father, Norman and his brother were forced to fend for themselves, sleeping rough in London and stealing food to survive. This is a rags to riches tale of the man Charlie Chaplin said would take his mantle and who went on to make millions laugh around the world for over five decades.

This audiobook is full of interesting information that you can whip out in any conversation. You'll never be lost for words and always have the perfect icebreaker.

The brilliantly quirky David Sedaris returns with a book of acerbic and outrageously funny stories about animals who have unmistakably human failings.This collection of sharply observed animal-themed tales is a delight, told with David Sedaris’s trademark blend of hilarity and goodnaturedness. Though the characters may not be human, the situations in these stories bear an uncanny resemblance to the insanity of our own everyday interactions.

Recorded live at two sell-out shows from London’s iconic HMV Hammersmith Apollo, Reginald D Hunter Live features outstanding material from the cutting-edge stand-up comedian. In the twelve years since he began performing; Reginald D Hunter has become one of the UK comedy industry’s best-known and most distinctive performers. His is often brutally honest, frequently controversial but always meticulously measured and hilarious!

One of the funniest comedians Britain has ever produced - male or female! Recorded during her late 90s UK tour, this is now regarded as one of her best shows ever. A real classic, Victoria Wood Live is full of charm, cheek, dazzling wordplay, and hilarious stories.

The hilarious and pubescent debut book from your favourite British Muslim comedian (that's Tez Ilyas, by the way). You may know and love Tez from his stand-up comedy, his role as Eight in Man Like Mobeen, his Radio 4 series TEZ Talks, or panel shows such as Mock the Week and The Last Leg. Where you won't know him from is 1997, when he was 13¾. (But now you will—because that's what the book is about.) In this suitably dramatic rollercoaster of a teenage memoir, Tez takes us back to where it all began.

Performing in front of his home crowd, Liverpudlian John Bishop has become one of our top comedians in just a few years. His humour, charm and take on life's trials and tribulations is hysterical.

The woman behind the icon known as Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, the undisputed Queen of Halloween, reveals her full story filled with intimate bombshells—told by the bombshell herself. On Good Friday in 1953, at only 18 months old, 25 miles from the nearest hospital in Manhattan, Kansas...

Berlin, Summer 2011. Adolf Hitler wakes up on a patch of open ground, alive and well. Things have changed – no Eva Braun, no Nazi party, no war. Hitler barely recognises his beloved Fatherland, filled with immigrants and run by a woman. People certainly recognise him, albeit as a flawless impersonator who refuses to break character. The unthinkable, the inevitable happens, and the ranting Hitler goes viral, becomes a YouTube star, gets his own T.V. show, and people begin to listen.

Seen by over 400,000 people across the UK, Sunshine was recorded live at Liverpool’s Echo Arena on the last night of John Bishop's sell-out tour of the same name....

Recorded live at The Lowry, the spectacular waterfront theatre in Salford Quays, Reginald D. Hunter. In the Midst of Crackers showcases his unique, unpredictable and bound-pushing stand-up, making it clear that he has firmly cemented himself as one of the UK comedy industry’s best. As frank, honest and cutting-edge as ever, Reginald D. Hunter tackles subjects only the bravest of comedians will touch, so prepare yourself for a feast of shockingly controversial, yet searingly honest and brilliantly intelligent stand-up.

Often imitated but never bettered, I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue is the only authentic antidote to panel games. This collection finds unflappable chairman Humphrey Lyttelton giving silly things to do to regular panelists Tim Brooke-Taylor, Barry Cryer and Graeme Garden, as well as special guests Stephen Fry and Rob Brydon. Highlights include old favourites such as One Song to the Tune of Another, 84 Chicken Cross Road, Sound Charades, New Definitions and of course the brilliantly baffling, fiendishly funny Mornington Crescent.

Drag superstars Trixie Mattel and Katya have long captivated fans with their stunning looks, onscreen chemistry and signature wit. In Trixie and Katya’s Guide to Modern Womanhood, the pair channel that energy into an old-school etiquette guide for ladies. In essays and how-to sections, Trixie and Katya will advise listeners on beauty and fashion and tackle other vital components of a happy home, such as money, entertaining and friendship; sharing advice and personal stories in high-concept fashion.

Back in 1972, people had never heard of Samantha, Sven, nor Mrs. Trellis, and had no idea of the rules of Mornington Crescent, nor what points are for. The year 2022 marks 50 years of radio insanity—of the nation's finest comic minds being given silly things to do, with some of them set to music. Celebrate the Golden Anniversary of the greatest radio comedy of all time, the antidote to panel games, with the epic and exhaustive, fully authorized history of both I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again and its beloved spin-off, I'm Sorry, I Haven't a Clue.

A follow up to Jamali’s British Podcast Award-winning comedy/horror series. Jamali Maddix is back attempting to debunk our guest’s wildest tales of the paranormal.